Rule of law is an 'absolutely critical area' for the NZLS
The New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) has comprehensively reviewed its law reform committees to make any necessary improvements before the 2023 committee renewal process.
The NZLS has several law reform committees which cover all areas of law. These influential committees provide critical advice and input when changes in the law are considered and encourage the involvement and engagement of NZLS members with appropriate expertise.
The recent review of these law reform committees led to a decision by NZLS to merge two committees, specifically, the public and administrative law committee and the rule of law committee. The two combined committees created the public law committee. This amalgamation aims to eliminate significant overlap and duplication while reinforcing the focus on crucial areas like the rule of law, which holds a primary place in the amended terms of reference for the public law committee.
NZLS president Frazer Barton said, “Rule of law is an absolutely critical area for the Law Society. It’s part of our statutory role and one of our strategic priorities. Rule of law is the number one item in the amended terms of reference for the new Public Law Committee. We expect this to be a cornerstone of our ongoing advocacy work.”
Barton emphasized that NZLS represents nearly 16,000 lawyers and is the voice that other organisations reach out to and listen to. The law reform committees provide expert advice to the NZLS board and president. Through the review, NZLS hopes to bolster efforts to make the most of the expertise and valuable input that its committee members provide.
The review process revealed various areas where improvements were needed, which include findings that:
- there were some areas of significant overlap and duplication and some where there was no regular law reform work
- an international legal issues committee should be established
- any committee does not currently cover disability law. While it falls within the health law committee, it should be better signposted
- access to justice, a key strategic imperative for the NZLS, could be more visible within the specialist committee structure
- terms of reference needed to be standardised. These are useful for describing the relevant areas in which a committee works while also being clear about their advisory roles as committees of the board
- terms or conditions of appointment are commonplace for similar committees overseas
- other ancillary improvements are necessary, including making the climate change law subcommittee permanent and increasing membership of some committees with large workload
As part of the review process, NZLS sought feedback from committee members, with some additional steps to be taken in order to address the concerns raised by the feedback. NZLS is calling for expressions of interest of all its law reform committees and encourages its members to get involved with their peak national body.
